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Hello ALL! Although I have written three fiction novels, my passion before all of that was poetry. I have a group of poems that I would like to put together and publish, however, I am not sure how it will be received. My question is if there is any real benefit in publishing my work? I mean, besides for my own personal feelings. Thank you very much.

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Hi Salena, I guess it depends upon how you define "real benefits," and what you are trying accomplish.

If you want to generate some a meaningful profit, that would be a very difficult thing to do on your own. But is has been done. Jessica Care Moore, published Saul Williams' 1st book of poetry and it was the #1 bestselling book on AALBC.con in 1999. But Saul was very talented and Jessica busted her a-- promoting that book.

Most people don't have that combination of effort and talent. I'm not saying that you don't (I don't know you), I'm just saying most people don't. Jessica also had the advantage of riding the wave of a period of increased in poetry. Poetry slams were popping up everywhere, think Def Poetry. But that surge of interesting in poetry has largely subsided.

One thing in your favor (sort of) is that technology has made the process of publishing a book a lot less costly, but that has also increased competition, as more books are now in the marketplace, competing for readers.

The prospects of an unknown, poet making money self-publishing a book of poetry is daunting. How are your novels doing? Figure your poetry book will not do as well as your worse novel. How many books of poetry have you purchased, that were written by a new, self-published poet, in the last year?

If you want the satisfaction of seeing your poetry in print, and you have the extra money, then go for it. A bazillion people have done that. But since you already have books in print I suspect that would not be as big a deal for you as it would be for someone without a published book.

Can anyone read your poetry now? Do you have any published on your website? Post some and see what people think.